Some printing systems utilize solid ink that is melted to provide liquid ink. The solid ink is loaded into the printer and advanced to a melting device, which heats the solid ink to a melting temperature. The melted ink is collected and delivered to a printhead and the printhead ejects the melted ink onto media, directly or indirectly, to form an image. Typically, the melting device includes a melting surface that is warmed by a heater to melt the solid ink urged against the melting surface. The melting surface is usually vertically oriented to enable the melted ink to drain away from the melting surface/solid ink interface. A drip plate receives the melted ink and directs it to a drip point from which the liquid ink drops into a reservoir or other collection vessel for delivery to the printhead. Such a printer is described in U.S. Patent Application US2007/0268348A1 issued to Jones et al. (hereinafter ‘the '348 application’), the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Vertically orienting the melting surface constrains the placement of the drip plate. In previously known melting devices, a melting surface and drip plate structure, each of which may or may not be planar themselves, may be oriented in a non-planar manner with respect to one another. Because the ink melted by the melting surface flows under the effect of gravity from the melting surface towards the drip plate, directing and confinement of the ink flow from the melting plate to the drip point is important. Other issues for the melting device arise from solid ink, when provided in the form of solid blocks or sticks, directly impacting the melting surface when an empty loader is filled with solid ink. In gravity fed loaders, a solid ink stick may free fall against the melting surface. In spring-loaded systems, the release of the spring bias followed by the urging of a newly loaded stick against the melting surface also subjects a melting surface to some degree of impact. Consequently, the melting surface needs to be resilient and the interface between the melting surface and the drip plate needs to accommodate the melting surface/solid ink stick interaction.